Watercolour Pencil Techniques
Watercolour Pencils are very similar to colour pencils in that, they allow you to have
precise control and can achieve great detail.You hold them the same way, you sharpen the
same way, and you can erase them.It’s when you add water into the equation that their
uniqueness appears.
General information
Colour pencil leads are either wax or oil based, whereas Watercolour Pencil leads have a
water soluble base.
There are two main techniques using Watercolour Pencils.
1. Using a wet Paint Brush directly onto the tip of the Watercolour Pencil to create a paint
which can be mixed or applied to Watercolour Paper with the Paint Brush.To load a Paint
Brush with a particular colour, treat the pencil tip in the same way you would a solid
paint block of watercolour: wet your brush, then use the Paint Brush tip to pick up the
colour from the Watercolour Pencil.
2.
Drawing directly onto the Watercolour Paper with the Watercolour Pencil, then
‘painting’ over with a Paint Brush that’s been loaded with clean water (or a Water Brush).
The pencil lines ‘dissolve’ into watercolour paint.The intensity of the wash produced
depends on the amount of lead that had been applied to paper.The more pencil ‘lead’, the
more intense the colour.
Tips
Watercolour Pencil paint is transparent.You can see through the layers of colour you
have applied.Even once watercolour paint has dried, it remains water soluble.You can
re-wet the dried paint with water on a brush and it will turn back into paint.This means
you can lift the paint off the paper to fix a mistake, lighten a colour by removing some of
it, or even mix it with new paint. Though you do need to be careful you don’t scrub at the
paper too much and damage the surface.
With watercolour paint, a colour will always look more intense (stronger and darker) when
it is wet, it will be lighter and paler when dry.Use light washes in the background and
slowly build the colours.Once your initial layer of colour has dried, you can dip the
pencils themselves into the water to add areas of intense colour or details.Doing this
provides a very strong colour, and it is difficult to hide mistakes.
If you dampen your paper before you apply the Watercolour Pencil with a brush, you’ll get
softer, broader lines of colour than if you draw on dry paper.Work carefully, and don’t
use pencils that are extremely sharp, so you don’t damage the surface of the paper.
Watercolour Pencil Techniques:
Background washes
Watercolour Pencil drawn directly
onto dry Watercolour Paper.Washed
over with a wet Paint Brush.
Wet Watercolour Pencil tip drawn
onto dry Watercolour Paper.Washed
over with a wet Paint Brush.
Wet Paint Brush onto Watercolour
Pencil tip to pick up colour.
Painted onto dry Watercolour
Paper.Allow to dry before adding
the next colour using the same
technique.
Wet Watercolour Paper first.
Wet Paint Brush onto Watercolour
Pencil tip to pick up colour.
Paint over wet Watercolour Paper
and while still wet repeat with a
second colour.
Watercolour Pencil Techniques:
Mixing colours
Use the lid of the Watercolour
+
=
Pencil tin as a paint palette.
Use lots of water on your Paint
+
=
Brush to pick up colour from the
tip of the desired colour.Brush
+
=
the colour onto the tin lid.
Clean the Paint Brush and repeat
+
=
on a second colour, putting the
new colour on top of the previous
+
=
colour, creating a new colour.
• W
hite and light apricot for skin
+
=
tones.
• D
ark green and lime green for
shrubs.
+
=
•D
ark green and brown for
mountains and hills.
•L
ime green and yellow for grass.
+
=
•D
ark blue and yellow for deep
water.
•L
ight blue and skin tone for
+
=
shallow water.
•T
an and yellow for sand and
+
=
footprints.
•P
ink and yellow for sunsets
•B
rown and clay for rocks.
• Grey and black for shadows.
The possibilities are endless.
Watercolour Pencil Techniques:
Making the most of your stamps
Fluffy clouds in the sky using
the clouds stamp and blue tone
Watercolour Pencils.
Use the same clouds stamp, colour
it in green and brown tones to
create shrubs.
Use the large squiggle line stamp
with green tone Watercolour
Pencils to create hills and
mountains.
Use the same stamp with blue and
white tone Watercolour Pencils
to create waves or a second style
of cloud.
Use the small squiggle line stamp
to create waves or with grey tones
for shadows.
Rocks, footprints and sand stamps
can be used to create texture if
coloured differently.
Experiment with the shapes to come
up with your own ‘Create-A-Scene’.